1 Kings 19:3-18 And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.… I. His physical strength and nervous energy were completely overtaxed. We are "fearfully and wonderfully made"; and our inner life is very sensitive to our outward conditions. It has been truly said, that the most trivial causes — a heated room, a sunless day, want of exercise; or a northern aspect — will make all the difference between happiness and unhappiness; between faith and doubt; between courage and indecision. Many who send for the religious teacher would be wiser if they sent for their physician. II. HE WAS KEENLY SENSITIVE TO HIS LONELY POSITION. "I only am left." Some men are born to loneliness. It is the penalty of true greatness. At such a time the human spirit is apt to falter, unless it is sustained by an heroic purpose, and by an unfaltering faith. The shadow of that loneliness fell dark on the spirit of our Divine Master Himself when He said: "Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me." If our Lord shrank in the penumbra of that great eclipse, it is not wonderful that Elijah cowered in its darksome gloom. III. HE LOOKED AWAY FROM GOD TO CIRCUMSTANCES. Up to that moment Elijah had been animated by a most splendid faith, because he had never lost sight of God. "He endured as seeing Him who is invisible." Faith always thrives when God occupies the whole field of vision. Let us refuse to look at circumstances, though they roll before us as a Red Sea, and howl around us like a storm. Circumstances, natural impossibilities, difficulties, are nothing in the estimation of the soul that is occupied with God. They are as the small dust that settles on a scale, and is not considered in the measurement of weight. O men of God, get you up into the high mountain, from which you may obtain a good view of the glorious Land of Promise; and refuse to have your gaze diverted by men or things below! (F. B. Meyer, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. |
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